The introduction of the practice nurse mental health in general practices in the Netherlands: effects on number of diagnoses of chronic and acute alcohol abuse

L. Abidi*, A. Oenema, P. Verhaak, F. E. S. Tan, D. van de Mheen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

BackgroundSince 2008 mental health practice nurses have been gradually introduced in general practices in the Netherlands as part of health policy aiming to improve early identification and treatment of mental health problems in primary care. This study aims to investigate the effect of the introduction of the practice nurse mental health in general practices in the Netherlands on the number of diagnoses of chronic and acute alcohol abuse.MethodsThe Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL) retrieved data of a representative sample of general practices (n=155) for this study. Data were aligned at the starting point of the implementation of the PN-MH to compare the practices on our outcome measures after implementation of the PN-MH. Multilevel regression analyses were conducted to investigate differences in average number of chronic and acute alcohol abuse diagnoses between practices with a practice nurse mental health and control practices (without a practice nurse mental health and without a primary care psychologists).ResultsA significant decrease over time of chronic alcohol abuse diagnoses was observed (ss=-.52, p

Original languageEnglish
Article number48
Number of pages9
JournalBMC Family Practice
Volume20
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Apr 2019

Keywords

  • Alcohol abuse
  • Practice nurse mental health
  • Collaborative care
  • Nurse-led care
  • PRIMARY-CARE
  • BRIEF INTERVENTION
  • DISORDERS

Cite this